Manage change orders

Raise a change order, list affected items, route it for approval, and release it to promote new revisions.

A change order is how a controlled definition evolves. Rather than editing a released item, BOM, or routing in place, you raise a change order that records what is changing and why, route it through approval, and release it. Releasing promotes the new item revisions it points to, leaving the prior revisions intact as a record of what was built before.

Raise the change order

  1. Go to Engineering > Change Orders and select New change order.
  2. Set the type (Engineering, Manufacturing, or Documentation), the classification (Class I or Class II), and a title.
  3. Record the change reason. Save. The change order is created in Draft with a generated number.

List affected items and approvers

A change order cannot be submitted until it has both:

  1. Affected items: add each item the change touches, with its from revision and to revision (the new draft revision this change will promote), plus optional notes.
  2. Approvers: add the people who must sign off, in order. Each approval step is sequenced and starts Pending.

Route it through approval

  1. Select Submit to send the change order for review. It moves to Submitted.
  2. Each assigned approver, in sequence, selects Approve (with an optional comment) or Reject (with a reason). After the first of several approvals, the change order sits in In review until the last step approves.
  3. Once every step approves, the change order moves to Approved.
  4. A Rejected change order can be Reopened back to Draft to revise and resubmit.

Release it

  1. Select Release on an approved change order.
  2. Releasing promotes each affected item's to revision: any draft target revision is released, superseding the prior released revision.
  3. The change order moves to Released. Cancel withdraws one that has not yet released.
Draft -> Submitted -> In review -> Approved -> Released
   ^         |            |
   |      Rejected -> Reopen (Draft)
   +--- Cancel available until Released ---+

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